1943 Feb 19 Friday
British General Alexander takes command of the
Allied ground forces in Tunisia. Retreat -
moving backwards stops here and now.
Allied backs were to the wall. A Rommel breakthrough
anywhere along this Western Dorsal and the Allies
were finished in Tunisia. They would have to evacuate
to somewhere next door in Algeria.
How satisfying it would be to see the bigshot
Yanks running off, tail between their legs.
But that wasn't yet happening.
Especially not at Sbiba.
Task Force Stark was assigned to stop Rommel
at Kasserine. The Force was mostly engineers,
plus rounding up a hodge-podge of stray military
units. They were run off, but not before stopping
Rommel's thrust through Kasserine Pass for 2 days.
Time was precious, like desert water.
Montgomery's Eighth Army was already probing
Rommel's thin defenses back at Mareth.
His plan was to route the Yanks from Tunisia then
race back to Mareth, in time to meet Montgomery's
main attack. Rommel's schedule required most
everything to go his way. It wasn't the case.
1942 Feb 21 Sunday
Sunday's news had Rommel in a bad mood.
He was stalled most everywhere.
It was easy winning the battle of tanks with the Yanks.
Rommel was expert at maneuvering armor
on the open plain to his advantage.
It was his bread and butter.
Now he was fighting on terrain that heavily favored defense.
Mountain gorges channeled tanks into a sluggish
single file, a rich target for the enemy's artillery.
Rommel's enemy had suddenly become effective.
His 21st Panzer and Afrika Korps were both stopped
by stubborn dug-in defenses and artillery that
demonstrated devastating accuracy.
Rommel was boxed in. His panzers busy pounding
every road for an exit but no cigar. Thala, though,
looked promising. Getting there was a cake walk.
A battalion of poorly armed French infantry was all
that stood in the way of success. Until now.
10th Panzer took too long to get here. Only Rommel
appeared to appreciate the need for urgency.
His generals were sleepwalking by comparison.
He was constantly urging them on.
Pick up the pace! Pick up the pace!
Thala was low hanging fruit.
Rommel could have had it for free
if he had been more aggressive, less cautious,
a couple of days ago. So there it sat, virtually
undefended. Overlooked. The fog of war.
On the map above you see Irwin's artillery
rushing in from out of nowhere to save the town's
bacon, like a cavalry charge seen in some old West
cowboy adventure. They had traveled over 800 miles,
through bad weather and over slick roads, nonstop for
5 days, so they could be here now in order to make
a difference.
The teeth to Rommel's offense was supposed to have been
a battalion of Tiger I tanks. 24 of them. But they were
not available because they were busy with their
scheduled maintenance. It was General Arnim
getting in the last word in his fight with Rommel.
Desperate for armor, Rommel replaced the world's
best tank with an undernourished Italian knockoff -
a substitute thin in armor and short on pop.
Rommel's shark teeth became a mouth filled
with only molars, gnawing its way to victory.
Such was the descension among the top Nazi brass.
Divided command brought out the worst in rivals.
Rommel would now be awarded sole command
over Axis forces in North Africa. The split decision
stagnation was over. But was it in time?
* * * * *
OVER EASY
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